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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / How to efficiently pro...
Power Automate
Suggested Answer

How to efficiently process characters using Power Automate Flow?

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Posted on by CW-23070243-0 22
Hi
How to efficiently process characters using Power Automate Flow? 
for example , I'd like to remove all characters except letters and numbers. ?
 
)73283727e327xf -> 73283727e327xf
323232dwe/89DF-> 323232dwe89DF
 
 
Thanks
Categories:
Building flows
I have the same question (0)
  • Chriddle Profile Picture
    Chriddle 8,441 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Here are two ways to achieve this
     
    Left side:
    Create an array of characters and filter for items that are letters or numbers.
    Advantage: You don't need to specify the characters to remove.
    Disadvantage: You need an extra action (Filter array)
     
    chunk(outputs('Compose'), 1)
    toLower(item())
    join(body('Filter_array'), '')
     
     
    Right side:
    An alternative to using nested replacement functions.
    Advantage: It's just one expression.
    Disadvantage: You need to know and define the characters to remove (e.g. () /\@#$%&*).
     
    xpath(
	xml('<foo></foo>'),
	concat('translate("', outputs('Compose'),'", "() /\@#$%&*", "")')
)
     
     
     
    Results:
  • Chriddle Profile Picture
    Chriddle 8,441 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    If you don't know the characters to remove (flow below, left side) but have a maximum string length (e.g. 14),
    you can still achieve this with just one expression.
    ​​​But it looks a bit ugly ;)
     
    concat(
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 0),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 0, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 0, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 1),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 1, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 1, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 2),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 2, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 2, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 3),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 3, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 3, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 4),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 4, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 4, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 5),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 5, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 5, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 6),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 6, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 6, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 7),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 7, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 7, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 8),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 8, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 8, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 9),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 9, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 9, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 10),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 10, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 10, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 11),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 11, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 11, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 12),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 12, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 12, 1),
		''
	),
	if(
		and(
			greater(length(outputs('Compose')), 13),
			contains('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789', substring(toLower(outputs('Compose')), 13, 1))
		),
		substring(outputs('Compose'), 13, 1),
		''
	)
)
     
  • Suggested answer
    Chriddle Profile Picture
    Chriddle 8,441 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    ...or you use an expression with two nested xpath functions (the inner one determines which characters should be deleted, the outer one deletes them).
     
    xpath(
	xml('<foo></foo>'),
	concat(
		'translate("', outputs('Compose'), '", "',
		xpath(
			xml('<foo></foo>'),
			concat('translate("', outputs('Compose'),'", "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789", "")')
		), '", "")'
	)
)
  • Chriddle Profile Picture
    Chriddle 8,441 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    I did a performance test comparing the XPath expression to the huge Concat expression (100,000 times).
    Xpath is much faster (even faster than creating the 100,000 random strings initially):
     
     

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